Love on Lexington Avenue - Lauren Layne Page 0,71

just to grab a beer, and yet here he is, spending a weekend with five people. It’s interesting.”

He glanced back at Claire, and she responded with only a slight raise of her eyebrows. “Is it?”

“Yes,” Oliver said pointedly. “It is.”

Scott was gesturing in the direction of the driveway, still talking to Clarke. “Audrey mentioned it was cool if I brought my dog, but since it’s your place, I wanted to check. If there’s a garage or something, I can have her sleep in there . . .”

“Hell no,” Clarke said. “I love dogs. Better yet, this is my family’s house, and my mom hates dogs, so bring her in.”

“Uh . . .”

“Don’t mind Clarke,” Audrey said. “His parents are a bit uptight, and Clarke’s made it his life’s mission to do everything they don’t want him to. But seriously. Bring the dog in, I want to meet her.”

Scott disappeared, and a minute later Bob came bounding into the kitchen. Claire couldn’t help but grin at the sight of the dog, and then her stupid heart went and melted all over her, because Bob made a beeline straight toward her.

“Hey, Bobsie,” she said, crouching and kissing the side of the dog’s head, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment at the realization that she no longer wanted a dog. She wanted this dog.

But the dog wasn’t hers any more than the man was.

“Claire, I didn’t know you were a dog person,” Audrey said.

“I didn’t know I was, either. In fact, the first time I met this little lady, I thought she was a dinosaur. We’ve come a long way since then.”

She met Scott’s eyes across the room, letting him know with her gaze that she wasn’t just talking about the dog. She and Scott had come a long way, too.

“Scott, it’s so great you were able to join on late notice,” Audrey was saying as she put the rest of the groceries away.

Very late notice, Claire realized. Audrey had had this idea yesterday. She understood why Clarke was here. It was his house. And Oliver, obviously, came as a package deal with Naomi.

But why had Scott come? She understood why Oliver had asked him. But why had he come? Oliver was right in that Scott hardly seemed like the type to willingly spend a weekend with other people. And the two of them had barely spoken since their argument, aside from terse exchanges about the renovation.

So why was he here?

“Okay,” Clarke was saying, as he began unwrapping the foil from a bottle of champagne. “The house is only five bedrooms, so—”

“Only five?” Naomi broke in, gesturing at the lavish home that undoubtedly was worth several million dollars. “It’s practically a shack.”

“Luckily,” Clarke continued as he twisted the champagne cork with a pop, “two of our six-some is making sexy bacon in the bedroom—”

“Wait, what?” Audrey interrupted.

Clarke gave her an exasperated look. “Your friends Oliver and Naomi are having sex, Audrey. Keep up.”

“What’s that have to do with bacon?”

Clarke glanced around at the guys. “Bacon is the only thing that comes close to being as good as sex. Am I right?”

“I can think of at least ten other things,” Naomi mused. “A really good dinner roll dripping with butter, dark chocolate with sea salt. Homemade macaroni and cheese, especially if it has bread crumbs on top. Tacos—”

“Tacos!” Oliver sounded outraged. “You’d choose tacos over sex?”

“Clarke was talking about food almost as good as sex,” Naomi said. “And don’t think I haven’t seen the look on your face when you eat that pizza from Don Antonio’s. It’s awfully close to your sex face.”

Claire raised her hand. “Do I have to be around for this conversation?”

“No kidding,” Clarke said, pouring the champagne into the flutes Audrey had located and was holding up for him one by one. “You two are the only ones getting laid this weekend, so quit rubbing it in.”

“We’d better be the only ones having sex,” Naomi muttered with a dark look in Scott’s direction.

Scott didn’t look back at Naomi.

All of his attention was on Claire.

Chapter Twenty-Four

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6

Strange, all this time I thought Claire was the quiet one of the group,” Clarke said, lifting the bottle of expensive bourbon he’d brought to the beach and topping off his glass.

“Maybe the wine brings out another side of her?” Oliver said, reaching over and taking the bourbon from Clarke, topping off his own glass.

Oliver passed the bottle toward Scott who shook his head.

He was already feeling the effects, though he didn’t know